Clever and entertaining, Elton John It’s A Little Bit Funny is a musically brilliant tribute to one of our greatest showmen.
‘The cast captures the era’s vocals magnificently’: THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES – Upstairs at the Gatehouse ★★★
Canny casting directors would do well to make the trip to Highgate and catch the quartet of Sophie Camble, Rosie Needham, Louise Young and Kara Taylor Alberts in The Marvellous Wonderettes.
‘A grand night out’: RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET – Upstairs at the Gatehouse ★★★★
In what is the first staging of Return To The Forbidden Planet since the death of its creator Bob Carlton, John Plews has put together a production that captures the show’s irreverent spirit.
‘A polished gem’: A NIGHT AT THE OSCARS – Upstairs at the Gatehouse ★★★★
Carefully curated by Chris Burgess, and starring Kieran Brown, Steven Dalziel, Natalie Green and Laura Sillett, A Night At The Oscars is a charming production of a delightful idea.
THAT’S JEWISH ENTERTAINMENT – Upstairs at The Gatehouse
This lovely revue show takes its audience on a journey spanning over a hundred years. From the mass migration of Jews in the 19th Century, from the shtetl or Eastern Europe.
THAT’S JEWISH ENTERTAINMENT – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
That’s Jewish Entertainment doesn’t just focus on the showbiz greats made famous by Jewish writers or performers, but also takes in snatches of liturgy from the synagogue alongside a sprinkling of Yiddish songs that stem from the vanished world of the shtetl, as well as from New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the last century.
ANYTHING GOES – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
In quite possibly the finest musical to have been staged at The Gatehouse in recent years, John Plews and his cracking company deliver musical theatre magic in their ambitious staging of Cole Porter’s most famous show, Anything Goes.
THE MGM STORY – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Transporting us through the history of musical theatre’s golden age, The MGM Story dives into the tale of how the Hollywood studio nurtured the talent of stars that were to include Judy Garland and Gene Kelly alongside composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and countless others.
WALLIS – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Jennifer Selway has written both play and lyrics for the occasional songs that break up the action. Selway’s script has rare moments of sage comment as well as levity but for the most part the dialogue serves as superficial narrative, rather than meaty drama. There’s little of the sort of wit that that made Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey scripts sparkle, whilst Selway’s songs, aspiring to emulate Noel Coward also fall short of the mark.
BARMITZVAH BOY – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Upstairs At The Gatehouse, London
****
Music by Jule StyneLyrics by Don BlackBook by Jack RosenthalBook revised by David Thompson
Lara Stubbs, Sue Kelvin and Robert Maskell
Jule Styne and Don Black’s Barmitzvah Boy, now playing in Highgate, takes a look at Jewish life in suburban London with a perspective that is both delightfully dated and yet timeless. It was in 1976 that Jack Rosenthal’s inspired BBC TV play of the same title was broadcast. Rosenthal’s skill lay in affectionately spotting the satire that exists in the world around us and then gently, subtly, teasing his observations into a carefully crafted script. Barmitzvah Boy was so much more than a (rather far-fetched) tale of a young boy balking at the rite of passage that lies ahead of him. It offered a perfectly weighted glimpse into the quasi-assimilated angst of North West London’s Jewish community, with a cast of characters that were as recognisable as they were hilarious.
It was to be Don Black who spotted the story’s musical potential and whilst musical theatre may not have been Rosenthal’s genre of choice, his magnificent characters lend themselves well to the transition.
We find he Green family preparing to celebrate the Barmitzvah of their youngest, Eliot. Cab-driver Victor (Eliot’s father) resigns himself to the cost of the event (with three insurance policies cashed in and counting) whilst his wife Rita frets about her hair, the guest list and all manner of trivia which, as a major celebration looms, of course take on an immense significance.
Making his professional debut in the title role, Adam Bregman (just 13 and only recently Bar Mitzvah’d himself) puts in a cutely confident turn, displaying just the right amount of cheeky chutzpah. Robert Maskell’s Victor is a comic delight – He doesn’t over-egg his hard working sufferance in life, rather offering a portrayal of a Tevye 100 years on, only driving a cab and reading the Daily Express rather than hauling a milk cart and praying in synagogue. The enduring pathos of Victor’s well-worn love for Rita (think again of Tevye and Golde, only moved to a suburban semi rather than the shtetl), as well as a delightful duet with his aged father in law (Hayward B Morse) in Why Can’t He Be Like Me mark a nicely measured performance.
Sue Kelvin as Rita is every inch the Jewish mother. Rosenthal was merciless in skewering her character’s much stereotyped neuroses – but where so often comedy has usually placed such a matriarch in New York’s Brooklyn, to find her so recognisably sketched out in Willesden remains one of Barmitzvah Boy’s endearing treats.
The cast in general deliver a quality package. Lara Stubbs puts in a beautifully voiced turn as Eliot’s older sister Lesley and there’s particularly fine supporting work from Nicholas Corre as Harold, her schlemiel of a boyfriend. What makes Corre’s work in particular so remarkable is his delivery of a guy who is a complete klutz, yet doing so with a combination of well-crafted acting, fine movement and a stunning vocal presence. There is also a charming cameo from NYMT alumna Hannah Rose-Thompson as Eliot’s school friend Denise.
Notwithstanding the familiarity of its family/Jewish shtick, Barmitzvah Boy is very much a period piece. David Thompson has updated the book and whilst Rosenthal’s reference to TV cop Kojak squarely (and delightfully) pitches the action into the 1970’s, the outmoded references to “Chinks” (now unpleasantly racist and not penned by Rosenthal either) could have been cut out completely.
Bravo to producer Katy Lipson for having blown the dust off this time-machine of a show and credit to Stewart Nicholls for cleverly helming a potentially tricky piece. Ultimately Rosenthal and Black (along with Styne’s score, some of which is sensational and which is delightfully delivered on the night by Ed Court’s four piece band) have created a show that describes, over 2 hours, a culture that Jason Robert Brown distilled into 3 minutes in the song Shiksa Goddess from his show The Last Five Years.
Dripping with so much schmaltz that it could quite possibly congeal arteries, Barmitzvah Boy is most likely to appeal to musical theatre fans and Jews. This is one of those shows that makes London’s fringe great – and, after the recent triumphs of Gypsy and Funny Girl, for those who want to discover one of Jule Styne’s lesser known works, it’s unmissable.
Runs until 10th April, then at the Radlett Centre
THE GREAT JEWISH AMERICAN SONGBOOK – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Once upon a time Jews wrote the shows…Now it seems they ARE the shows, with revues and plays, some good, some Bad lining up to have the “J” word in the title. The latest pot-pourri – or should that be cholent (google it) – of kosher-themed offerings is Aria Entertainment’s rather charming, which includes many of the 20th century songwriters who composed for Broadway and Hollywood. Note “many”, but significantly, not “all”, with notable omissions on the night including Bernstein, Sondheim, Styne, Kander, Ebb.
LEGALLY BLONDE – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
There’s an irrepressible sugary charm that surrounds Legally Blonde. Late into the show’s run and on a cold January night too, the Gatehouse Theatre was packed with a grinning audience picking up on the cast’s infectious enthusiasm.
LEGALLY BLONDE – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
There’s an irrepressible sugary charm that surrounds Legally Blonde. Late into the show’s run and on a cold January night too, the Gatehouse Theatre was packed with a grinning audience picking up on the cast’s infectious enthusiasm.
Review: Buried Child (Unedited Version)
Although set in the remote boondocks of Northern Illinois, on a near-derelict farm, we are not in any new territory with Sam Shephard’s ‘Buried Child’. The possibility that an outwardly-naturalistic family shelters a dark secret which through the arrival of a stranger is revealed to devastating effect over three drawn-out acts is a theatrical motif […]
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